Mymuesli closes 20 of 23 stores

The public traffic in the city centers remained mostly absent in 2020, now Mymuesli draws the consequence: 20 of the 23 stores will be closed, employees laid off.

The Corona pandemic claims its next victim: Mymuesli will close 20 of its 23 Germany-wide branches in the next two years. According to its own information, the Passau-based company employs 800 people, 130 of whom are employed in the stores that are to be closed. The company is currently unable to say which location will be affected first. That would depend on how quickly Mymuesli can get out of the respective lease agreements.

Employees are likely to face redundancies unless they can be accommodated at remaining sites such as Berlin and Passau. However, this will not be possible for a large proportion as their employment is tied to the operation of the stores, Mymuesli said.

"We feel forced to take this step," says Mymuesli co-founder Philipp Kraiss. "Even when grocery stores were allowed to stay open, the drying up of foot traffic was clearly felt." Even in non-lockdown months, in-store sales were down as much as 80 percent from the previous year, Kraiss says.The online business was only able to partially offset this.

Mymuesli was founded back in 2007 and sold its breakfast cereal primarily online, only slowly opening stores in city centers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria as it became more successful. Now the company wants to return to online retail and also offer other products such as baby food.